Participation in demonstrations and civic engagement: case of Kazakhstan

Abstract

This article reveals the political participation of Kazakh citizens (i.e. participation in demonstrations and contacting the government) by differentiating rural and urban citizens. Previous scholars mainly focused on possible reasons why Kazakh people participate in politics and mainly related it to socio-economic conditions, the political system and corruption in the country. However, the existing literature pays insufficient attention to urban- rural disparities. This study attempts to identify the main factors that influence Kazakh citizens’ political participation. Moreover, it compares and contrasts the political participation among rural citizens with their urban counterparts. The results suggest that internet usage and education have statistically significant impact on intention to contact the government in both urban and rural areas. With regards to participation in demonstrations, internet usage and satisfaction with the political system play a significant role in all sampling units. Interestingly, religiosity of urban residents is positively correlated with both contacting the government and participation in demonstrations. In contrast to rural residents, the educated urban middle class is less likely to attend demonstrations.